PHYSICS UNIT 13

UNIT 13: Electric Fields I

Two Kinds of Charge
There are two different types of electrical charge. A dry glass rod can be charged by rubbing
it with silk. Two glass rods electrically charged in this way are found to repel each other.
If an ebonite rod is rubbed with fur it too develops an electrical charge. Two ebonite rods
electrically charged in this way also repel each other. However, an ebonite rod and a glass
rod each charged as described attract.
These experiments show that

 The charge on the ebonite and the charge on the glass are not the same kind.

 Like charges repel and unlike charges attract.

(Further experiments with other combinations of materials show there are only two
kinds of charge)

Positive and Negative Charge

Careful experiments show that in “charging by friction” both materials become charged
and these charges are equal and unlike. Benjamin Franklin interpreted this as showing that
“electricity” had been transferred from one material to the other. The one that had gained
should therefore be called positive and the other negative. He had no way of knowing which
way the transfer had occurred and arbitrarily defined positive charge as the charge
acquired by glass when rubbed with silk. Although Franklin’s idea was correct, this choice,
which has remained to the present day, turned out to be rather unfortunate. We now know
that the transfer is in the form of tiny particles (electrons) and if glass rubbed with silk
becomes positive, negative electrons have been removed.

 The object that becomes positive loses a tiny fraction of its huge number of electrons.
 The object that gains these electrons becomes negative.
 A “normal sized” neutral body has a huge positive charge and a huge negative charge.
These charges are evenly distributed throughout it and exactly balance.

Conductors and Insulators

Materials that allow easy movement of electric charge through them or over their surfaces
are called conductors. Examples are: all metals, carbon in the form of graphite, ionic
solutions, fused ionic compounds and gases under low pressure.

Materials that do not allow easy movement of electric charge through them or over their
surfaces are called insulators. Examples are: nearly all non-metals, nearly all organic
compounds (particularly plastics), ceramics, pure water, and gases under normal to high
pressure. There is however no sharp boundary between conductors and insulators. Any
insulator will conduct if the electrical forces are large enough and a material may be
considered a conductor in some circumstances and an insulator in others.

UNSW Foundation Studies

Charge Distribution on Conductors
Isolated Charged Conductors

+ +
+ + + + + + +
+ ++
+ + + +
+ + + ++
+ +
+ +
+ +
+
No charge on inner surface No charge inside Charge concentrates where
radius is small

Oppositely Charged Conductors

+ 
+ +
+ +
+ +
(Because + attracts )
Charged Conductor Attracting Neutral One

This body was This body was (and still is)

originally charged neutral but has become
polarised

___ by the
_ other
+
(negative) body that

is close to it.
The induced dipole is now attracted to the net charge that induced it because the
unlike charges are closer.

UNSW Foundation Studies

Using one Charged Body to Charge Others
Charging by Contact or Conduction
If a charged body is brought into contact with an initially uncharged one then, because
like charges repel, electrons will move from one body to the other provided that both
bodies conduct to some extent.
The same kind of charge is shared between the two bodies. When the two bodies are
both good conductors the larger takes the bigger share of the charge. It can be shown that
if the two bodies are conducting spheres they share the charge in proportion to their radii.

Charging by Induction
An initially uncharged insulated conductor may be charged by induction using a body
(conductor or insulator) that is already charged to move electrons in the conductor.
Two similar bodies

Step1 Use charged body to polarise uncharged conductor.

conductor
+ + __ +
+ + _ A +
+ + +

insulating stand

Step 2 Put second conductor in contact with originally uncharged one.

_ +
+ +_ A B +
+ + _ +
+ +

Step 3 Separate the conductors with charged body still in place

+ + __ +
+ + A B +
_ +
+ +

UNSW Foundation Studies

Step 4 Remove the charged body
Note
In both charging by
_ + contact and by induction
_ B
A _ + the total charge in the
+ isolated system is
constant. Charge is
conserved. A and B must
acquire equal and
opposite charges.
If the aim is to charge A, the procedure works better as B becomes larger.
Thus the earth can be used as B and A acquires a charge opposite in sign to
that of the inducing charge.

One body and earth

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
+ + e- +
+ +  +  
 + + 
+  + +   
+  + +  + 

Polarise with Connect to Break connection Take rod away

charged rod earth to earth

The Electroscope
Moving Vane Type Foil Leaf Type
The top plate, central
rod and leaves/moving
vane are electrically
– ––––– – connected – that is – –––– –
– – –
they behave as a single
conductor insulated
from the case by the
plug at the top. When
+
+ + the electroscope is + +
+ + charged or polarised as + +
+ shown the leaves or
+ + + +
vane opens because + +
+ like charges repel.

We can charge the electroscope by contact or induction just like any other conductor.

UNSW Foundation Studies

The electroscope can be used to determine the sign of an unknown charge.

Charging by Induction
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4
+ + ++ + + ++ + _+ _+ _+_
__ _ _ _ ___ e- s _
 



+ +
+ +  

Polarise with Connect to Break connection Take rod away

charged rod earth to earth

Example 1
A like charge, an unlike charge and a neutral conductor are brought in turn up to a charged
electroscope. How does the electroscope behave in each case? How can the electroscope
be used to determine the nature of an unknown charge?

UNSW Foundation Studies

Coulomb’s Law
The force between point charges is proportional to their magnitudes and inversely
proportional to the square of their distance apart.

q 1q 2 q 1q 2
F or F  ke
r2 r2

The value of the constant of proportionality ke depends on

 The units used.

 The medium between the charges.

In the SI the units for all of the quantities involved are fixed by definitions from outside
the topic of electrostatics. We have already encountered the newton for F and the metre
for r.
The unit of electric charge is called one coulomb (C). This is defined as the quantity of
charge delivered each second by an electric current (charge flow rate) of one ampere.
The ampere (with its metric multiples and sub-multiples) is the only unit of electric
current used in practice. Clearly we need to define the ampere but this will be left until
much later in the course. For the time being we note that

 The coulomb is a huge charge under electrostatic conditions.

 Any charge = an integer  the elementary charge, e

q=ne The charge on the electron is – e

e = 1.6  10-19 C or 1 C = 6.25  1018 e

 From the above it follows that k has to be found experimentally i.e. measured.
For vacuum and near enough for most practical purposes air

ke = 9.0  109 N m2 C-2 For other media ke is smaller.

1
 For reasons of later mathematical convenience ke is written as
40

Where 0 = 8.85  10-12 C2 m-2 N-1 is called the permittivity of free space (vacuum)

 For other insulating materials (dielectrics) between the charges 0   = r 0 where

r1 is called the relative permittivity or dielectric constant of the material.

 Hence Coulomb’s law becomes (in vacuum and near enough for most purposes air)

UNSW Foundation Studies

 q1 q 2 1 q1 q 2
F ke  Where
1
= 9.0  109 N m2 C2
r 2
4 0 r 2 4 0

 Coulomb’s law is of the same mathematical form as Newton’s law of gravitation. Just
as a spherical body’s mass may be considered concentrated at its centre, if the charge
is on a conducting sphere then as far as points outside the sphere are concerned fields
and forces are the same as if all the charge were concentrated at the centre.

Using Coulomb’s Law

 Assume that charges are in vacuum (o) or air (  o) unless told otherwise.

 Use the Coulomb’s law equation to find the magnitude of vector F. It is simpler not to
try to use the + and  signs (of charges) to find directions. Attraction and repulsion are
not in themselves directions.

 To get the direction of F use the fact that like charges repel and unlike charges
attract. Draw a diagram to help you if you have any doubt.

 If several charges are present, add forces to find the resultant by vector addition.

Electric Fields
Electric fields are places where electric charges experience electrical forces.
Just as we can think of a mass as being surrounded by a gravitational field, we can think of
a charged body as being surrounded by an electric field. With charge there is an additional
complication – there are two kinds of charge.

All electrical definitions are in favour of positive charge.

The electric field (or electric field strength or electric intensity) at a point is the electric
force per unit positive charge experienced by a small test charge placed at that point.

E (N C-1) F F
By definition E (Compare with g  )
F (N) q m
+ q (C)
Hence when a charge q is placed in an electric field E that is
caused by other charges it experiences an electric force

F=qE

UNSW Foundation Studies

Field Caused by a Point Charge
A charge is also a source of electric field
In the diagram Q is the source of the electric field at P and q is a small test charge
placed at P to measure this field.
The magnitude of the force on q is
Q 1 qQ
q F  qE
r 40 r 2
P

1 Q
The magnitude of E is given by E
4 0 r 2

The direction of E is the direction of the force experienced by a positive charge at P.

A negative charge at P would experience a force in the opposite direction to that of E.

Electric Field caused by Several Charges

1 Draw a sketch of the situation.

2 For each charge, work out direction and magnitude of its electric field at the
place you are interested in.

3 At that place, resultant field = vector sum of the component fields.

A +4 nC N
0.4 m X
Example 2 0 45 0
45
0.3 m 0.3 m
Find the resultant electric field at X.
B 3 nC C 2 nC

Magnitudes
9
1 Q 9) 4  10
EA = . = (9  10 = 225 N C1
4  0 r2 ( 0.4) 2
Similarly EB = 300 N C1 and EC = 200 N C-1

+ X EA Finding Resultant E
45 0 EA
450
EC EC
EB 

Er
EB
Magnitude and direction of E follow from the vector-diagram. Scale drawing or use of
components would be convenient. Calculation using a “whole vector” diagram would be
rather tedious.
Answer 390 N C-1 E 66o S (you should confirm this for
yourself) 390 N C-1 E 66o S

UNSW Foundation Studies

Mapping Electric Fields
Electric fields are represented diagrammatically by drawing lines of electric flux.
(Also referred to as lines of force or electric field lines)

A line of electric flux is an imaginary line whose shape is such that the electric field is
tangential to it. To each flux line we add an arrow to show its general direction.

 Lines of flux cannot cross – otherwise the field would have two directions at the
point of intersection.
 Lines of flux are shown more closely spaced where the field is stronger.
 Lines of flux must meet conducting surfaces at right angles under electrostatic
conditions.

Examples
The field around a point charge is radial and has an intensity which obeys an inverse
square law:

+ -

The field between parallel oppositely-charged conducting plates is uniform and has
the same intensity and direction everywhere (except at extreme ends):

+
– Battery to charge
the plates

A Dipole

+ ―

UNSW Foundation Studies